something (almost) every weekday, to think, talk, and write about in English

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Art or vandalism?

What do you think about graffiti? When you see it, does it make you angry or afraid or does it make you think “That’s art!”

I suppose it depends on the type of graffiti. Is it meant to be vandalism, or is it meant to be art?

For anyone who visited Sakuragicho in Yokoham pre-2009, you’ll remember the great graffiti wall. I haven’t been to Sakuragicho for quite some time, but according to this blog post, the graffiti was painted over sometime in or before 2009.

And then there’s Banksy. Here’s a post from last December about him and “The Best Street Art of 2013”.

Global Street Art has a collection of images from around the world, including London, Copenhagen, São Paulo, Budapest, Delhi, Jakarta and many more cities.

Here’s a short article about a website called Color + City, which connects street artists with local businesses.

And here’s an article about a neighborhood in New York city that has a lot of street art.

Writing prompts:

Have you seen any graffiti in your neighborhood? Is your local government pretty good about getting rid of it quickly?

Do you have any street art, or would you like some, in your neighborhood or your school’s neighborhood?

What kind of street art do you think would enliven or entertain? What kind of art do you think would make people think about, for example, social or environmental problems?

There’s a word in Japanese for graffiti: 落書き. Is there also a word for “street art”?